<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Motherland of Electricity\u201d wrestles with the consequences of communism on the human psyche and the forced perception of a Baconian environmental relationship (meaning the environment is there to be used for scientific and humanitarian gains). One of the most striking moments of imagery in the story is a page long description of a necklace of the Virgin Mary, one which is depicted without her son and as her being more of a laborer than a saint. In this passage, I believe Platonov is asking the reader to consider the parallels between Mary and the Communist worker.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The comparison begins with the doomed fates of both Mary and the Communist worker. If you take the immaculate conception away from its religious valor, Mary herself is a doomed laborer of God. She has no choice in her fate of motherhood, and the production of children in the case of Jesus can be (problematically) consider a commodity. Platonov describes that the Mary in the amulet is without the son in her arms, highlighting her role as mother and taking away her piousness. Additionally, Platonov depicts this Mary as, \u201csimply an unbelieving working woman who lived by her own labors and received no favors from any god\u201d (265). Platonov’s Mary looks at the world \u201cwithout meaning or faith,\u201d (265) directly subverting the very ways in which Mary is exalted, at its most extremes within the Catholic church, for her unwavering faith.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
If we consider Jesus as Mary\u2019s production of a commodity, Platonov\u2019s amulet begins to elevate the importance of labor and the production of commodities within Russian society. As Mary\u2019s labors are the salvation from sin, Platonov is implying that the common worker\u2019s labors are the cause of the salvation of the country. Just as Mary unquestionably birthed Jesus and proceeded in her labor with no complaint, so should the Russian worker, such as our electrician<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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